Regular Second Gig

Well, I've signed a contract to work 10 hours per week for a marketing company where Spencer's brother is the head of creative. I'll be writing, proofreading, DTP and blogging, plus possibly maintaining the Web site. Combined with my four to six stories per month with the Woburn Advocate, that's a viable second gig, although I won't really believe it until the money starts rolling in.

And I'd love to be able to drop the Advocate in favor of more lucrative and interesting features for magazines. I love doing it, but the pay is extremely low, and I'm always wiped out the next day.

My next step is to establish a work schedule I can stick with. I want to work at least 4 billable hours on Mondays and 6 on Wednesdays, supplemented with a couple of administrative hours on Wednesday and Thursday afternoon.

After summer is over, or if the marketing firm wants more hours, I'll add time on Mondays, which means I'll have to leave Harmony on Sunday afternoon.

Also, after this month, I will no longer accept Monday stories at the Advocate and try to reserve that as a quiet night at home to do laundry, relax and get ready for the work week.

If this works out, I'm going to drop Elance and ramp up my search for feature articles.

Books and SACO

I joined a Meetup book group and only attended one meeting. I really enjoyed it, and it was great motivation to read. I'm not sure about going during the warm months because I'll more likely be in Harmony on Sunday afternoons. Meanwhile, I'm quite determined to finish The Brothers Karamazov before picking up another thing. I've gotten into the habit of watching TV when I'm home alone in the evening, and I'd like to replace that with reading, writing, and doing crafty things.

I got a contract from World War II magazine for the SACO story and filed a first draft, but I haven't heard anything yet from the editor. I'll give her a poke this week.

Doing the research made me realize what a rich and complex subject it is. I'm wondering if it's a viable project for a book, and if I could possibly make any money writing it.

Web class

I started a web class this semester, planning to re-learn some web publishing basics. But after missing a couple of classes, I just dropped it. But I have all the materials. I'm going to go to the course web site and download all the powerpoint presentations for the lectures and try building a family history site.

Lose 10 pounds

I didn't want this list to turn into another version of futile New Year's Resolutions, but I got on the scale this morning and had a shocking revelation. I thought my clothes were a bit tight! Time to cut back on treats and crank up the exercise.

Doing and enjoying

I sold the story about SACO to a WW2 magazine, and I'm now happily researching and writing it. I even took a couple of vacation days from my job to work on it.

I joined a book club through a meetup group and read a book for their Feb. meeting. Too busy in March, but I plan to pick it up again this month.

I opened a Twitter account and learned enough to wonder what all the fuss is about.

Regular blogging

I've posted to my blog at least once a week since the last day of December. That's eight weeks in a row. Now I feel I'm in the blogging habit.

Next, I'll follow up with Military History magazine to see if I can get my SACO story assigned.

Gerry's plaque in the mail, other progress

I finally finished Gerry's plaque and mailed it off.

I'm on Page 670 of the Brothers Karamazov. Just 50 pages to go; I'm quite determined to finish this book this week. However, I'm also taking a website development course with a lot of reading. Maybe I'll focus on Brothers this week and then dive into the HTML books.

I'm adding two more goals related to the course: learning to build and edit websites (yeah, I learned it once before, but things have changed), and creating a family history site. I'll use that as the final project of my course.

My blogging has been really good. Two more posts, and I will have reached the goal.

I've made some progress in finding a regular second gig or a full-time job. I've applied for a couple of full-time things, and last week I had an interview with Bruce's company Access to write freelance for them. I will consider that accomplished if I bill them at least 35 hours a month for three consecutive months. But short of that, I need to keep looking. I'll also consider it accomplished if my freelance income from all sources exceeds $1300 a month before taxes for 3 months.

The guy at Military History asked me to contact him again next week. If he takes the story, I'll consider the SACO story accomplished. If he doesn't, I'll pitch it to another magazine, and consider it accomplished whether that pub takes it or not.

Blogging up a storm

Doing great on my blog this month, and it's helping to keep my creative writing muscles strong. Once I wrote about what I'd been writing for Woburn, able to say things that I couldn't say in the stories, about the election and MLK.

Trekking

I want to take one of the classic European mountain treks, something like the Mont Blanc circuit, but maybe less popular. It has to be a trip where I can sleep indoors every night and get food along the way. I don't want to carry or set up camping equipment.

I imagine myself arriving at a chalet around 4:30 p.m. and having a nice glass of wine before being served a supper of fondue or chops.

I'd like to go with a friend or relative. Most fun would be Spencer, but it would be too hard for him to get in a plane or wander along a mountain path for 10 days. Maybe Beth or a sister.

If I can't manage this by the time 1001 days have gone by (a real possibility because of money and time), I at least want to have it planned to celebrate turning 60 - the summer of 2014 or 2015.

Completed one, and a hard one

Spencer and I reinvested our money after pulling out of the stock market last year. So that's Number 9, getting our savings in order. This was one of the hardest things because it took a lot of work and cooperation, and neither of us really understands what we're doing. But we think we made a good decision, and we feel good about it.
I'm on the home stretch of The Brothers Karamozov. I've been reading other things while reading it, but I've only got about 135 pages left, and things have become harrowingly interesting.
I still need to finish Gerry's plaque, but weather and time have to come together just right.